Would you like to battle with Ravana? Meet legendary characters like Hanuman, Jambavan, Indrajit or Kumbakarna? Games like the ‘Battle of Lanka,’ ‘Vanavaas’ or ‘Search for Sita’ help a child get familiar with every plot twist and turn of the Ramayana.

Packed with oodles of information, painted in attractive colours, unconventional toys are staging a comeback as ‘educative’ becomes the keyword in toy purchases.

With more Indian manufacturers and retailers like iFolk Channapatna, Bengaluru-based Varnam, Chennai-based Kreeda, Desi Toys, BabyOye and FirstCry entering the space, conscious parents are opting for such wooden, ethnic toys over their plastic counterparts.

For some, the choice is environment-conscious, for others, it's about learning one's culture and heritage.

“India has a rich culture and heritage, and yet many of our kids play Snakes and Ladders without knowing its origin lies in the Indian game Parama Padam. Likewise, the Indian Shatranj is quite different in its opening moves from Western chess. Even the pawns used in the games differ from region to region.

For instance, coastal Tamil Nadu, players would use cowrie shells for palanguzhi, but deeper inland people use tamarind seeds. In Kerala for the same game, people use gundumani red seeds,” says Vineetha Siddhartha, founder, Kreeda. Priced between Rs 150-Rs 899, Kreeda products are made with biodegradable material.

Adding an Indian twist to contemporary games is another way, startups have started attracting new clientele. “When I designed my version of Snakes and Ladders I wanted the game to be educative. So as children go up the ladder, they get to learn dasavatharam — the 10 avatars of Vishnu. Apart from this, I have three-dimensional toys — which is the Indian take of the Rubik’s cube — Teen paheli, ghan akar.

My most successful toys are the ones that can induce a severe attack of nostalgia — like my steamboat, our exquisitely handpainted trucks, autos. You used to get them earlier at melas, but now they have all but completely disappeared,” says Swapna Wagh, founder, Desi Toys. Initially an online seller, Desi Toys finds that a lot of NRIs are picking up their toys at airports after they expanded into retail.

When it comes to role-play, Desi Toys has uniquely Indian items for kitchen time — idli steaming vessels, rolling pin and board for making chappati, a full-fledged thali set, a hand water pump with a little bucket all made in dainty, perfect proportions.

Children also get exposed to art forms from different states with these India-focused startups. For instance, at Varanam, board games such as tic tac toe, ludo, shatrung (chess) are made with fabric boards. “We collaborated with Porgai, a non-profit organization that works with Lambadi women in Sitlingi, Tamil Nadu. It is a fusion of two art forms from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka — as we design the 32 lightweight, wooden pawns in Channapatna style,” says Karthik Vaidyanathan, founder, Varanam.

Varnam also works with Channapatna artisans to make contemporary dolls in the traditional style. "Our stackable dolls Nartaki take off from a well-known oscillating doll model that’s quite familiar with the district. We just put a more modern twist to it, so that children get the concept of stacking,” says Vaidhyanathan.

And even larger corporate brands like Funskool are seriously looking at unconventional vintage products to draw in a new crowd. “We have partnered with Hornby for vintage train sets like the Pullman, Virgin Atlantic, Somerset Belle. These are of course at the premium end as they are expensive, but there is a growing and niche market for them in India,” says Philip Royappan, marketing manager, Funskool India.